ELECTROSPHERE: Rise of the Ouroborus
by The Wilky Bar Kid
Summary: Set shortly before Ace Combat 3 a family in Neo Osea witness a terrorist attack and the UPEO send two aircraft to investigate.
1. Guess who's coming to dinner

This story takes place shortly before the start of the events in Ace Combat 3

Pre-2040. During a period of financial chaos, the many governments of the world have eroded to nothing but corporatocracies the two biggest being Neucom Inc. and General Resources Ltd (formerly Grunder Industries). These corporations, not unlike the governments they control, have disputes often, and war is never far away.

An organization of the New United Nations the Universal Peace Enforcement Organisation (UPEO) was established to police these new corporatocracies and maintain peace on Earth. But unknown to all a new force is lurking on the horizon...

* * *

Neo Osea  
September 21st 2042

"Hermione!" Her guardian's voice wailed up the stairs. Hermione's eyes fluttered as she brought herself out of a daze. "Hermione!" She called again.  
"Coming!" she replied and she quickly scrambled downstairs into the kitchen. Emily, Hermione's guardian since birth, stood beside the long oak table that dominated the centre of the room. She was setting the table for the three of them.  
"Sorry" said Hermione as she dashed in. "I'm absolutely exhausted."  
"I suppose you would be" said Emily as Lucy walked in from the garden.  
"Haven't you got changed yet?" sniped Lucy, her younger adopted sister.  
"I just nodded off" replied Hermione. "Anyway what's it to you?"  
"Now that's enough!" interjected Emily.

Emily had adopted Hermione when she was only a baby. Both her parents were killed during the food riots seventeen years before. Under Emily's care she had been given the chance to become a professional dancer and she had now won a place at one of the most prestigious academies in Neo-Osea. Fourteen year old Lucy had lived in an orphanage for as long as she can remember until just last year when Emily was permitted to adopt her.

Once the three of them had sat down Emily brought over the bowl of beef stew that she had prepared. She poured several serving spoonfuls into each bowl before they began to eat. Nearly every utensil in the room had the word 'Neucom' stamped on it. Hermione lifted up her spoon and took a sip of the hot food. Suddenly the room shook! Then a loud bang filled the air. The three of them screamed before Emily composed herself enough to tell the three of them to get under the table. A loud piercing whistle seemed to rocket over head and with the two girls under the table Emily raced out the front door to see what it was.

Their house sat on a hill overlooking a picturesque portion of the Neo Osean coastline. It was quite a cold day. The sky was blanketed by rather heavy grey and silver clouds and the waves lapped up against the shore as if angered at its very presence. At first Emily couldn't see what the cause of the noise was but then the high pitched whistle roared over the house again and Emily instinctively ducked as a jet fighter shot overhead at great speed. The noise made the whole house shake on its foundation. The girls screamed once again as Emily watched the fighter pull up and rocket toward the heavens. Then over to the right a second fighter, different to the first, arched toward the first. A long white smoke trail suddenly emanated from under its wing and raced towards the rapidly climbing first fighter. It was soon followed by a second. Emily watched as the dogfight played out in front of her. Hermione came running out to get her just in time to see the first fighter avoid one missile but suddenly get hit by the second which exploded on its wing. The whole plane was engulfed by flames as its charred wreckage spun toward the sea landing in the water just a few hundred yards from the beach. With Hermione tugging on her arm Emily couldn't help but resist as she stood perplexed as the second fighter circled around to confirm the kill. Emblazoned on its wing was the logo of a snake swallowing its own tail. The Ouroborus.

* * *

High over the ocean approximately twenty five nautical miles east of the Adamas Island range Jake Bartlett, a former Osean Air Force pilot, sat enclosed in the tomb like cockpit of the F-16XFU. To the casual observer it must seem a strange sight to see the pilot asleep in a cockpit with no windows. But Jake was not asleep. On the contrary he was very awake. He was directly linked up with the aircraft through a neural interface in the back of his neck that connected his brain to the aircraft. As far as he was aware he was sitting in mid air with the ocean below him travelling passed at over three hundred knots. There was no need for him to use his eyes. High powered fibre optic cameras covered the aircraft giving him a completely unrestricted view in every direction. This revolutionary system was called Connection for Flight Interface or simply COFFIN. Jake looked out over to the right and saw his wingman, a Belkan named Erich Jager, holding perfect formation with him. Both aircraft were formidably armed.

Suddenly a radio transmission came through from their base. A female voice echoed inside both their heads.  
"Striker two-niner-seven and two-niner-niner this is Striker base. Have received report of disturbance in Neucom territory sector two-seven of Neo Osea. Please divert and investigate!"  
"Roger Striker base" replied Bartlett. "Enroute now."

Both F-16XFUs broke to the right in perfect formation their wingtips casting the Dove insignia of UPEO into shadow as they turned on their sides. Such precision flying was made possible by the use of the COFFIN system. As they altered course the speed increased and the aircraft passed easily through the sound barrier that complained in a mighty sonic boom.


	2. Intervention

Emily quickly ushered the girls into the basement of their little house on the coast. As they scrambled down the dank staircase the sound of a jet engine once again filled the house causing Lucy to scream. Once they were downstairs under the house Emily made the two girls cover up under a blanket while she scrambled for some adhesive tape. All the stories her mother had told her about the last war were running through her head. There were several small windows near the ceiling of the basement and she knew that a nearby blast could shatter them sending shards of glass through the air as quickly as bullets. Finally she found some tape and began putting two strips on each window in an 'X' the idea being that it would hold most of the window in place. Even as she was doing it she questioned how effective it would be. But the rush of adrenalin that was running through her body was forcing her to act and this felt at least like she was doing something. As she taped up the last window she couldn't help but look outside again. Through this window she could see the coast as it had always looked. No sign of war. Now that the sound of the jet engine had gone the view was an incredible juxtaposition to how it was just a few moments ago as was the speed of modern warfare.

Hermione lifted up her side of the blanket and searched the room with her eyes for Emily.  
"Emily!" she pleaded. "Please come here!"  
The near hypnotic curiosity of what was going on kept Emily glued to the window but finally Hermione's pleads got through to her and she rushed to join her adopted children under the blanket.

* * *

The two F-16XFUs of UPEO spread out four miles apart and began a radar search. The information from each aircraft was datalinked to the other so both aircraft had access to the others radar display. They were closing on the coastline with tremendous speed. Jake suddenly detected three targets to North West heading towards them.

"Striker two-niner-niner this Striker two-niner-seven" he said over the radio. "Have three air contacts at 10 o'clock, range 147 miles inbound. Flight level thirty. Beginning radar interrogation." Jake highlighted the contacts on the radar screen that was being projected into his mind and selected the option "INTERROGATE". This concentrated all the radar energy on the three targets to produce a radar image of the aircraft for identification. The image would always be confusing to look at since many aircraft are now designed with stealth features so that only a portion would be returned but that was enough for the computer to make an assessment. A three view of an R-101 Delphinus appeared on Bartlett's display. The aircraft were transmitting an IFF code which identified them as belonging to the Neucom Security Forces. Jake made sure that he was transmitting his own IFF which identified him and Otomo as of the UPEO. In the confusion it was quite easy for them to suddenly engage each other believing that it was UPEO that had attacked. Suddenly Jake's ECM equipment beeped into life warning him that he too was being radar interrogated before a radio call came through. On Jake's neural display a small symbol of a stylised 'N' indicating a Neucom transmission appeared as a gruff and rather angry voice echoed in his head.

"UPEO! This is Major Anders of the Black Hearts squadron," it roared. "You are not needed! Leave now! This is an internal matter!"  
"Major Anders" replied Jake. "Under the New United Nations Security Council Charter we have universal authorisation to enter national or corporate airspace in times of emergency. We have received intelligence of a disturbance in this area and we have come to assess the situation." At forty miles away the Neucom fighters were in range of Jake's visual sensors and a pop-up appeared in his vision displaying the three aircraft in close formation heading towards them.

"Quote all you want!" snarled Anders. "You are not welcome!" This guy is an idiot thought Jake. The truth was that both modern day nations and corporatocracies were usually hostile to the UPEO who were viewed as meddlers. The fact that the UPEO got most of its equipment from General Resources rather than Neucom didn't help matters much when dealing with the southern half of what was the Osean Federation. Now the south of the country, labelled Neo Osea, was Neucom administered while the north retained its position as a traditional nation.

"I repeat" protested Jake, "we are here on behalf of the -." Suddenly the lead R-101 was showered by a hail of gunfire that ripped into its fuselage. Its fuel tanks exploded and the aircraft seemed to rip itself open as the fire fought to free itself from a metal cage. Jake couldn't see where the gunfire came from and except for Jager and the Neucom R-101s his radar was completely clear. "Shit!" he exclaimed loudly. Anders's plane was the one that was hit since the comm link was gone. His two wingman broke formation in sheer panic. Jake opened up a direct link with Jager. "They've been engaged! Striker two-niner-niner I've got nothing on radar! You?"  
"Negative two-niner-seven" replied Jager.  
"Well then they must be using some kind of radar shroud" surmised Jake. Although aircraft can be designed to be stealthy the advent of three dimensional radar has largely negated this as an advantage thus Jake's assessment is logical. Suddenly a second R-101 exploded as it was struck by a missile fired from within the cloud base. This time a long white trail protruded from the cloud giving away a general direction from where it was fired. "He's in the clouds! Break formation and I'll begin an IR search!" Both Jake and Jager were so highly trained that they had each assessed the situation without the need to communicate the whole engagement plan. Both pilots disengaged their radars as this would reveal their locations. Neither of them were detecting any radar emissions from the attacker so they knew he wasn't using his radar either to detect the aircraft. He was either using an infra-red scanner or was using the radar waves from the R-101s to fire blindly in the general direction of the aircraft and allow the missile itself to acquire the target. Otomo broke formation with Jake and began to circle toward the cloud base where the fighter was hiding. As Jake began an infra red scan he transmitted the results to Otomo via the secure datalink to guide Otomo in for the kill. As the scan began the sensor was blinded as the final R-101 exploded. As the flash subdued the scope became clear. The infra-red scan ran across the clouds. Jake looked on patiently as the scan suddenly passed the outline of an aircraft, an F/A-32C. "Gotcha!"

Jager had received the same information in his aircraft. The target was less than five miles away and he turned his nose to bare on the target. Knowing that he was well within his rules of engagement he selected an AIM-9X-3 close range air to air missile and highlighted the target aircraft before Otomo's brain sent the signal to the missile to fire. It streaked off the wingtip pylon and left a long thin trail as it came to bare on the attacking aircraft which was now turning toward Jake's aircraft. No doubt he was the next target but completely unbeknown to the attacker his time was up. The aircraft was hit in the centre of the fuselage. Moments later it appeared to rain fire and smoke from inside the cloud as the shards fell towards the ground.


End file.
